WaHi’s Johnson Leads the Blue Devils to State Title in Junior Olympic Rifle
The Blue Devil Sporter Rifle Team captured the Washington State Junior Olympic 3 Position Air Rifle Championship in Spokane recently, with Cadet Master Sergeant Clayton Johnson taking home the individual state championship title.
Nearly 60 of the state’s top marksmen comprising 11 teams met in 2 locations, Spokane and Tacoma, to compete for the title of Junior Olympic 3 Position state champions. Athletes competed in a course of 60 record shots, 20 prone, 20 standing and 20 kneeling for a total possible score of 600 points. Teams competed for state honors and invitations to the Junior Olympic National Championship held in Ohio this summer.
“Normally, we only bring our precision team to this match” Said Team Captain Ben Nelson “But our sporter squad has been shooting such high scores this season that we really felt they needed to enter this year. No sporter team in Washington State has been producing the scores they have this year.”
WAHI’s Sporter Team did indeed deliver. Led by senior Cadet Master Sergeant Clayton Johnson who shot an astounding 549 out of 600, the Blue Devils shattered their own school record of 2094, set just two weeks ago in Fort Benning, Georgia by shooting a 2098 on Saturday to clinch the state championship over the JROTC Rifle Team from University High School by 157 points. Johnson’s score claimed the individual state title over University’s Clara Yang by 8 points. The two marksmen were basically deadlocked in score after the prone and standing positions, but Johnson’s kneeling targets, totaling 184 out of 200 cemented the match for him.
“Johnson has been making strides in every match this year” Said Rifle Team Coach Mark Mebes “it has been several years since we have seen scores like this from a sporter shooter.”
The competition in the precision class was much tighter, with the top 3 teams in the state being within 10 points of each other.
Precision shooter Cadet Captain Raquelle Justice, who had already claimed the Washington State Junior Olympic Standing match title back in December led the Blue Devils with a 577 that claimed the bronze medal for her. The precision team finished the day on a total of 2281, putting them in 2nd place statewide, just 3 points behind the Sabertooth Rifle Team from Tacoma and 6 points ahead of the team from the Spokane Junior Rifle Club.
As the Junior Olympic Rifle Matches take place from state to state, the Civilian Marksmanship Program, which is the sanctioning body out of Camp Perry, Ohio sets scores that will automatically qualify rifle teams at the national level. Both Blue Devil teams met the auto-qualifying scores for this match and will receive invitations to compete in the Junior Olympic National Championships this summer in Ohio. The Blue Devils next set their sights on the JROTC Cascade Mountain League’s next contest to be held in Kennewick on February 25th.
